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glavo's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I loved this book. I was expecting just a funny rom-com, but there was so much more to it. Will and Patrick were both so sweet. And this is a great book for anyone who enjoys a found family story. I highly recommend!
sapphic_library's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
WE COULD BE HEROES is an actor romance about patrick, the dreamy a-list actor starring in a superhero movie franchise, and will, a bookseller and part-time drag queen. after a chance encounter, they can't stay away from each other and quickly fall into a relationship—unfortunately, one that comes with an NDA attached. patrick finds himself embedded in the queer community thanks to will and his friends, and starts to realize how much he's missing by hiding who he really is. this is probably one of my favorite reads this year and i can't recommend it enough!
read if you like:
- superhero movies
- steve and bucky đź¤
- found family
- drag queens
thanks to netgalley and putnam for the advanced copy. WE COULD BE HEROES comes out june 4th.
read if you like:
- superhero movies
- steve and bucky đź¤
- found family
- drag queens
thanks to netgalley and putnam for the advanced copy. WE COULD BE HEROES comes out june 4th.
eila's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
A bookseller who moonlights as a drag queen meets a closeted actor who's in town filming a superhero movie.
This could/should have been a sweetly predictable meetcute, but it unfortunately fell flat at every turn. I was so excited by the comfort-blankie-esque premise and instead I got whatever this is.
Reader, I really hated this book. I'm giving it two stars purely because of the queer representation and because it lacked grammatical errors. But like a character quotes, the bar is so low, it's in He'll.
So what went wrong?
What didn't.
Firstly, this is ostensibly set in Birmingham, but it could have been set on the moon or in your back yard: you'd never know the difference. That's because the author manages to miraculously avoid any actual descriptions of just about anything. Whatever happened to show, don't tell? This is all tell, no show. There's zero atmosphere, zero local anything. They walk down A Street to A Bookstore and then go to A Club and/or The Hotel. ... actually, that might be more descriptive than this book.
Secondly, the characters are utterly unlikeable and downright stereotypical. Will and Patrick are both utterly vapid and not just boring but so boring as to be forgettable. There's zero chemistry. They're not even actually into each other, but at least there's some chemsex to ease the way, I guess?
Thirdly, there's no plot. Normally the meetcute or the closeted character coming out are the climactic events, but here even those are so watered down they have no impact.
Fourthly, there's an attempt to shoehorn a side story, set in the past, about the authors of the superhero franchise. This is just jarring and smacks of filler.
And lastly, the insistence on using apostrophes instead of quotation marks for all the dialogue - and this book is nothing but pages of pointless, shallow dialogue strung together.
I'm really sorry, but I can't recommend this book, as I don't even know who the target audience would be. It's so many words, and yet no plot, character growth, or even a scenic backdrop to patch them together. The author needed an outline and to focus on depth, and a good editor to wrangle this into any semblance of storytelling.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
This could/should have been a sweetly predictable meetcute, but it unfortunately fell flat at every turn. I was so excited by the comfort-blankie-esque premise and instead I got whatever this is.
Reader, I really hated this book. I'm giving it two stars purely because of the queer representation and because it lacked grammatical errors. But like a character quotes, the bar is so low, it's in He'll.
So what went wrong?
What didn't.
Firstly, this is ostensibly set in Birmingham, but it could have been set on the moon or in your back yard: you'd never know the difference. That's because the author manages to miraculously avoid any actual descriptions of just about anything. Whatever happened to show, don't tell? This is all tell, no show. There's zero atmosphere, zero local anything. They walk down A Street to A Bookstore and then go to A Club and/or The Hotel. ... actually, that might be more descriptive than this book.
Secondly, the characters are utterly unlikeable and downright stereotypical. Will and Patrick are both utterly vapid and not just boring but so boring as to be forgettable. There's zero chemistry. They're not even actually into each other, but at least there's some chemsex to ease the way, I guess?
Thirdly, there's no plot. Normally the meetcute or the closeted character coming out are the climactic events, but here even those are so watered down they have no impact.
Fourthly, there's an attempt to shoehorn a side story, set in the past, about the authors of the superhero franchise. This is just jarring and smacks of filler.
And lastly, the insistence on using apostrophes instead of quotation marks for all the dialogue - and this book is nothing but pages of pointless, shallow dialogue strung together.
I'm really sorry, but I can't recommend this book, as I don't even know who the target audience would be. It's so many words, and yet no plot, character growth, or even a scenic backdrop to patch them together. The author needed an outline and to focus on depth, and a good editor to wrangle this into any semblance of storytelling.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
andrewtaets's review
4.0
Sort of astonishing we haven’t gotten a traditionally published queer romcom with a superhero actor and a drag queen yet. But this book gave me everything I wanted it to. Compulsively readable.
thwipys's review
3.0
**Thank you to Netgalley for providing the eARC!**
We Could Be Heroes follows the star of a popular comic book movie as he navigates fame and coming out, as well as his romance with a drag queen he met while filming. The novel is told in dual POV between the two of them.
I liked the commentary this book had on CBM (comic book movie) fanbases, like when Audra, another star, criticizes the fans for their expectations of actors. That theme runs deep, especially as fame plays a huge role in Patrick’s arc. Patrick and Will have to keep their relationship a secret due to this. I’m not a huge fan of that trope.
What I liked most was the historical chapters, detailing the history of the Captain Kismet character and creation of the original (fictional) comics. I’m a big comic fan so that’s what resonated most with me. I could have done with a whole book of that, to be honest
The side characters for the most part just seemed a little mean. Especially Audra. I like banter, but it seemed a bit much sometimes. Dylan, Will’s sister’s nonbinary kid, was my favorite.
Besides a few moments at the beginning, I didn’t really feel like there was much chemistry between Patrick and Will. Maybe it’s just me, but they didn’t seem to have much in common. The pacing also seemed a bit off. It’s like the novel didn’t get confident in itself until the halfway mark, somehow?
I’d pick this up if you’re looking for a light read, and you like metatextual stuff about CBMs!
We Could Be Heroes follows the star of a popular comic book movie as he navigates fame and coming out, as well as his romance with a drag queen he met while filming. The novel is told in dual POV between the two of them.
I liked the commentary this book had on CBM (comic book movie) fanbases, like when Audra, another star, criticizes the fans for their expectations of actors. That theme runs deep, especially as fame plays a huge role in Patrick’s arc. Patrick and Will have to keep their relationship a secret due to this. I’m not a huge fan of that trope.
What I liked most was the historical chapters, detailing the history of the Captain Kismet character and creation of the original (fictional) comics. I’m a big comic fan so that’s what resonated most with me. I could have done with a whole book of that, to be honest
The side characters for the most part just seemed a little mean. Especially Audra. I like banter, but it seemed a bit much sometimes. Dylan, Will’s sister’s nonbinary kid, was my favorite.
Besides a few moments at the beginning, I didn’t really feel like there was much chemistry between Patrick and Will. Maybe it’s just me, but they didn’t seem to have much in common. The pacing also seemed a bit off. It’s like the novel didn’t get confident in itself until the halfway mark, somehow?
I’d pick this up if you’re looking for a light read, and you like metatextual stuff about CBMs!
esme_bonner's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Thank you to NetGalley, HarperNorth, and PJ Ellis for a Galley of this in return for an honest review.
This was an immaculate mix of campy humour, subtle political statement, and heart breaking emotion. Caught between a fun, and funny, superhero themed romcom, a scathing indictment of systemic homophobia, and a wrenching representation of what it is to be queer, traumatised, and queer & traumatised, We Could Be Heroes is a wonderful novel filled with humour.
Ellis has taken care to craft characters who behave like people, which is something I adore in novels. Will and Patrick couldn't be more human if they tried, and (without spoiling anything) the other characters we meet across timelines do the same! I did just say timelines. Unexpectedly, this novel is somewhat epistolary, and features snapshots from the lives of people in the 1950s - this for me was a bonus, but if that kind of changing about isn't something you enjoy in books then all I can say is it's a real shame you'll be missing out on this one!
I really loved this. I had a lot of fun, and once I was in it I was consumed. It just misses the 5 star mark for me, because I do think some of the more intimate scenes were a little confused. There was enough to tell you what was happening, but they were all a little rushed or vague. For me that kind of half-open / not-quite-closed door intimacy, where detail is there but also withheld, is never really enjoyable. It's too much for closed door, not enough for open, and I always find it weakens the moment a little. It's a small thing, and really just a me problem!
Overall, brilliant. A fun, feisty, colourful, unapologetically queer love story. A true delight to read. 4.5 stars.
This was an immaculate mix of campy humour, subtle political statement, and heart breaking emotion. Caught between a fun, and funny, superhero themed romcom, a scathing indictment of systemic homophobia, and a wrenching representation of what it is to be queer, traumatised, and queer & traumatised, We Could Be Heroes is a wonderful novel filled with humour.
Ellis has taken care to craft characters who behave like people, which is something I adore in novels. Will and Patrick couldn't be more human if they tried, and (without spoiling anything) the other characters we meet across timelines do the same! I did just say timelines. Unexpectedly, this novel is somewhat epistolary, and features snapshots from the lives of people in the 1950s - this for me was a bonus, but if that kind of changing about isn't something you enjoy in books then all I can say is it's a real shame you'll be missing out on this one!
I really loved this. I had a lot of fun, and once I was in it I was consumed. It just misses the 5 star mark for me, because I do think some of the more intimate scenes were a little confused. There was enough to tell you what was happening, but they were all a little rushed or vague. For me that kind of half-open / not-quite-closed door intimacy, where detail is there but also withheld, is never really enjoyable. It's too much for closed door, not enough for open, and I always find it weakens the moment a little. It's a small thing, and really just a me problem!
Overall, brilliant. A fun, feisty, colourful, unapologetically queer love story. A true delight to read. 4.5 stars.
danwyn's review
3.0
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book was very different than I expected! To clarify, it is very much a cute romance with an actor and a drag queen as the main love interests, but this baby has layers! The actor MC, Patrick Lake, is playing a Captain America-esque superhero called Captain Kismet, and through the course of his romance with Will, the drag queen, there’s a parallel story about the queer writer and illustrator who created the character Patrick is now embodying. I found all of the characters really interesting. Will and Patrick were both compelling in their own right, but I’d be lying if I said I felt the romance was equally as compelling. The chemistry wasn’t entirely absent. I just found myself waiting for a moment between them that would really grab me and convince me they needed to be together. It was cute, and the other elements of the plot kept my interest enough that I was able to overlook the places I thought the romance was lacking. There is one moment of conflict towards the end that didn’t work for me. I think I understand what Ellis was trying to do with the character in that scene, but I’m not sure the execution worked. It felt forced. Not enough to ruin the book for me, but definitely bumped it down a bit when I was deciding on my rating. All of that said, I thought Ellis’ writing style really worked in this book. I haven’t read anything else by this author, but I would definitely pick up something by him in the future becauseI thought the story had a lot going for it and a lot of potential in the parts that didn’t quite connect with me.
This book was very different than I expected! To clarify, it is very much a cute romance with an actor and a drag queen as the main love interests, but this baby has layers! The actor MC, Patrick Lake, is playing a Captain America-esque superhero called Captain Kismet, and through the course of his romance with Will, the drag queen, there’s a parallel story about the queer writer and illustrator who created the character Patrick is now embodying. I found all of the characters really interesting. Will and Patrick were both compelling in their own right, but I’d be lying if I said I felt the romance was equally as compelling. The chemistry wasn’t entirely absent. I just found myself waiting for a moment between them that would really grab me and convince me they needed to be together. It was cute, and the other elements of the plot kept my interest enough that I was able to overlook the places I thought the romance was lacking. There is one moment of conflict towards the end that didn’t work for me. I think I understand what Ellis was trying to do with the character in that scene, but I’m not sure the execution worked. It felt forced. Not enough to ruin the book for me, but definitely bumped it down a bit when I was deciding on my rating. All of that said, I thought Ellis’ writing style really worked in this book. I haven’t read anything else by this author, but I would definitely pick up something by him in the future becauseI thought the story had a lot going for it and a lot of potential in the parts that didn’t quite connect with me.
bookspills's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
carammcdermott's review against another edition
4.0
I loved loved loved this book so very much. I was initially drawn to it because of the similarity to Red, White and Royal Blue, but was quickly swept up in the unique love affair of Patrick and Will. Seeing the author’s dedication at the end to The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Klay, their inspiration, and one of my all time favourite books, was just the icing on the cake.
sharonleavy's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
"Real love is nothing like the movies"
Patrick Lake is a popular, handsome Hollywood actor who has landed the gig of a lifetime as the lead in a Super Hero movie series, adapted from a beloved comic strip written in 1949.
Originally from South Amboy, New Jersey (Violet Sanford country), Patrick and his co-stars are doing some additional post-production work in Birmingham, England. When a spontaneous night out ends with him crossing paths with drag performer Grace Anatomy (Bookseller Will Wright by day), Patrick feels a spark - but he's not out, for fear of jeopardising his career. He enjoys his job, and the perks it affords him - but how much longer can he live a lie?
Back in 1949, we see the original comic strip come to life, where we meet Charles and Iris, the original creators. Their marriage is not like most - but if the truth came out, they could lose everything. They dream of a world where they can just be themselves.
I ADORED this book. If you know me at all, you'll know I'm a savage for a good pun, bit of banter, pop culture reference, or slice of queer culture - and all were served in bucket loads. From the little sprinkling of iconic references ("what, like it's hard?") to the sweetest found family storyline, this book warmed my cold little heart so much. I loved the lead characters, but the side ones also deserve a mention - Margo, Dylan, Audra, Jordan, Hector, Corey - everyone was so full of life and I felt like I had the measure of them immediately.
I thoroughly enjoyed how the book used the comic strip series to bridge the gap between past and present. There were so many similarities between the two stories, and while queer joy was sometimes under threat in both timelines, ultimately I found it to be a really uplifting, hopeful, beautiful love story that's so badly needed in the world today.
I sincerely thank @harpernorthuk for the opportunity to read a #gifted ARC via #Netgalley, I'll be buying my own copy when it's released on June 6th.
Absolutely adored this, it was just lovely.
Patrick Lake is a popular, handsome Hollywood actor who has landed the gig of a lifetime as the lead in a Super Hero movie series, adapted from a beloved comic strip written in 1949.
Originally from South Amboy, New Jersey (Violet Sanford country), Patrick and his co-stars are doing some additional post-production work in Birmingham, England. When a spontaneous night out ends with him crossing paths with drag performer Grace Anatomy (Bookseller Will Wright by day), Patrick feels a spark - but he's not out, for fear of jeopardising his career. He enjoys his job, and the perks it affords him - but how much longer can he live a lie?
Back in 1949, we see the original comic strip come to life, where we meet Charles and Iris, the original creators. Their marriage is not like most - but if the truth came out, they could lose everything. They dream of a world where they can just be themselves.
I ADORED this book. If you know me at all, you'll know I'm a savage for a good pun, bit of banter, pop culture reference, or slice of queer culture - and all were served in bucket loads. From the little sprinkling of iconic references ("what, like it's hard?") to the sweetest found family storyline, this book warmed my cold little heart so much. I loved the lead characters, but the side ones also deserve a mention - Margo, Dylan, Audra, Jordan, Hector, Corey - everyone was so full of life and I felt like I had the measure of them immediately.
I thoroughly enjoyed how the book used the comic strip series to bridge the gap between past and present. There were so many similarities between the two stories, and while queer joy was sometimes under threat in both timelines, ultimately I found it to be a really uplifting, hopeful, beautiful love story that's so badly needed in the world today.
I sincerely thank @harpernorthuk for the opportunity to read a #gifted ARC via #Netgalley, I'll be buying my own copy when it's released on June 6th.
Absolutely adored this, it was just lovely.